Sen. Lindsey Graham (RS.C.), the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, sought to challenge the congressman’s ruling that Warnock’s cap on insulin prices violated the Byrd Rule because it would set prices in the commercial market and as of this could not be passed by a simple majority.
Senate Democrats insisted on a vote to waive a procedural objection to listing Republican senators, including Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), the most vulnerable member of the GOP conference, as opposed to a popular relaxation proposal insulin values.
The Senate voted 57-43 to drop a procedural challenge to the insulin price cap, but Democrats scored a symbolic victory when seven Republicans voted with Democrats: Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Susan Collins ( R-Maine), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska). “We’re going to force them to vote no and we’re going to record them,” one Democratic senator said before the vote, explaining the political strategy ahead of a vote lawmakers knew in advance was going to fail.
All 43 “no” votes came from Republicans. The vote was unusual, as the majority party rarely insists on a vote to overturn a lawmaker’s decision on whether a legislative proposal is protected by special budget rules that allow it to pass with a simple majority.
Senate Health Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said colleagues who voted for the congressman’s override would allow people to get insulin for $35 a month. “Thirty-seven million people in our country have diabetes, and it’s absolutely wrong that many of them can’t afford the insulin they need to live,” he said. “I’ve heard from people in my state who are risking their lives and their insulin to get by while drug companies raise prices.” “The cost of insulin has tripled in the last decade,” he said.
But Democrats won a partial victory because the lawmaker allowed Warnock’s $35 insulin cap to apply to Medicare beneficiaries, which could affect prices in the private market.
A Democratic aide called the cap on insulin for people covered by Medicare a “big deal.”
The aide noted that 1 in 3 Medicare beneficiaries has diabetes and more than 3.3 million Medicare beneficiaries use common forms of insulin, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Senate Whip John Thune (RS.D) told reporters Sunday morning that Democrats were well aware before the vote that the congressman ruled that capping insulin prices on the private market was a violation of Senate rules.
“He hit it. They added it back and basically, you know, they wanted to tempt us to, I guess, vote against it,” Thune said, while calling out Democrats for “over-picking the congressman.” He said the attempt to oust the lawmaker undermined the integrity of the Senate process and Senate rules.
“It undermines the whole process of reconciliation if you start doing that,” he said. “Well, I mean, I think there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it. They want to get that vote, there’s a lot of ways they can get that vote, but doing it this way was the wrong way to go about it.” Warnock pushed back on Thune’s remarks, telling The Hill before the vote that the blame would fall on Republicans if a large portion of the insulin cap were dropped from the bill.
Van Hollen Says China’s Xi Crisis Caused Pelosi’s Taiwan Trip Sen. Rick Scott Says Inflation Reduction Act Is ‘War on Medicare’ “MPs’ rules are not self-imposed,” Warnock said. “Well, it’s only when we don’t do what 20 other states have already done, many of them red states, is if the people here decide to put politics before people.” “We can do this and if it doesn’t, it’s on them,” he said. Sunday’s vote comes a day after the passage of another provision of the bill aimed at lowering drug prices by targeting pharmaceutical companies with price increases that exceeded the rate of inflation.